THE INTI MACHAY IN THE SANCTUARY

This is natural cave located to the east of the Sanctuary behind the so-called Room of the Mortars. This cave is hardly visited by tour guides and tourists because it is off-limits to the normal tourism circuit. Regrettably, for lack of control and protection from people in charge of the Sanctuary and some unscrupulous visitors, this place has became a public latrine. This cave is about three meters deep and was used to harbour mummified bodies of important people of the Sanctuary. This cave shows in its external part, a small window that goes through a channel to the interior, and this window has an astronomical relationship with the sunrise in the summer December Solstice. It is proven that all constructions in the sanctuary were mathematically planned because they have a perfect alignment to the four cardinal points, sunrise and sunset, or special Apus or mountain protectors, and special days of the Inca Calendar therefore, this cave was not only a simple tomb, but it also played a religious and astronomical role in the sanctuary.